


The Winter Queen, The Summer King, and the Spring Knight

by Persiflage



Series: Skoulson RomFest 2k16 [7]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fairy Tale Curses, Fairy Tale Endings, First Time, Genderbending, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Inspired by Art, Older Man/Younger Woman, POV Skye | Daisy Johnson, Prompt Fic, Skoulson Romfest 2k16, Skye | Daisy Johnson Feels, Skye | Daisy Johnson's Superpowers, Skye | Daisy Johnson-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 17:02:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5792737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fairytale AU in which Knight!Daisy rescues SleepingBeauty!Coulson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Winter Queen, The Summer King, and the Spring Knight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zauberer_sirin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zauberer_sirin/gifts), [RowboatCop](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RowboatCop/gifts), [notcaycepollard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/notcaycepollard/gifts), [Skyepilot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/gifts), [BrilliantlyHorrid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrilliantlyHorrid/gifts).



> Written for the Skoulson RomFest 2k16 for the Day 7 prompt 'Free Theme' (actually, I snagged the Day 2 prompt 'Fairytale').
> 
> This fic was inspired by a piece of art that I saw on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rachel_Aaron/status/684006139156140032
> 
> Once I saw that, the idea of the Winter Queen lodged in my brain and demanded to be written!
> 
> I tried to keep the details and discussion of the past rape to the bare minimum for the story to make sense. I hope I did it respectfully as this is not something I have personal experience with.

"I'll find him," Daisy says angrily, fists clenched as she glares up at the Winter Queen, who stands above her, her icy blue eyes full of disdain; the frost on her eyebrows, eyelashes, and cheekbones is thick, whitening her already pale face still further, and made her eyes seem icier.

"I assure you, little Knight, no one can find where I've hidden the Summer King, and certainly not a weak child like you."

Daisy continues to glare, refusing to be intimidated by this malevolent woman. The red cloak, also frosted with ice, the holly and mistletoe crown, and the mistletoe and pine cone scarf she wears are all just affectations as far as Daisy's concerned. She doesn't care that the being in front of her is several hundred years old and reportedly mighty in power. All she cares about is King Philip, the Summer King, the man whom she secretly loves, and has done since he brought her, an almost starving orphan, to his Palace a handful of years ago, and handed her over to the leader of his Knights with the fateful order "Train her up, will you, Melinda."

That same Knight, Melinda May, now lies sprawled unconscious in the snow a few feet away, as do the rest of the Summer King's Knights. Daisy isn't sure why she isn't also out cold in a snow drift like the others, but she's grateful that there's at least one Knight left to defy the Winter Queen, even if that Knight's only herself.

Daisy knows she isn't as experienced as Melinda May, Bobbi Morse, or Maria Hill; that she's not as skilled as Akela Amador or Peggy Carter; and that isn't as smart as Jemma Simmons or Jane Foster – but she's the only Knight still awake, so she has to try.

"If I'm so weak, why am I not unconscious in the snow like everyone else?" demands Daisy, hoping the Winter Queen won't see this as an invitation to knock her out after all.

The icy blue eyes regard her coldly and Daisy represses a shiver of fear as that freezing, implacable gaze stares down at her.

"I don't know," answers the Winter Queen, and Daisy senses how reluctant she is to admit this ignorance. "But it doesn't matter. No one else is awake, so no one will be able to help you if you persist in this foolish quest of yours." She sneers. "The Summer King will never love you, child – you are too far beneath his notice, too weak, a nobody."

Daisy opens her mouth to retort, but the Winter Queen flicks her hand and a snowstorm immediately whirls into existence, blocking the other woman from view. "Farewell child. We shall not meet again."

Daisy is flung backwards into the snow, landing with a thump that takes her breath away, and by the time she gets to her feet, the Winter Queen is gone.

Daisy forces herself to take a deep breath, then she dusts herself down before turning to look at her sister Knights. There's nothing she can do to help them – all she can do now is look after herself as best she can in a land that's suddenly been plunged into deep winter. A land in which every living creature – human, animal, or bird – sleeps wherever their bodies have fallen.

She turns her back on the sleeping women and makes her way through the palace grounds to the barracks where the Summer King's Knights live and train together. It's hard for her to ignore the fallen serving men, all of them sleeping as deeply as the Knights outside, but she averts her eyes from Trip and Mike, Mack, Steve, and Andrew, and makes her way to her own bunk.

Once there she sorts through her things, deciding what she will need to take with her – clothing will make up the bulk of her pack. Normally the winters in Summerland are mild affairs, lasting a few weeks, with nothing more than frosty, sunny days, and chilly nights, so she doesn't have any clothing suitable to wear in the deepest, coldest winter the Summerland has ever known. Therefore she'll need layers of clothing to ensure she doesn't freeze to death. 

After she sorts out her clothing, Daisy decides which weapons to take with her – her quarterstaff's the most obvious since, if nothing else, it will aid her to wade through the snow. Her bow and a quiver full of arrows is her second choice. She looks at her sword for a little while – it's the same one with which King Philip Knighted her two years ago, but she can't really justify taking it with her – it'll just weigh her down too much. She's not even sure she'll need her bow, but since she is still awake, and the Winter Queen couldn't explain how or why, she's not going to assume there won't be others awake here and there.

She sits down to write a note for Melinda May, telling her what's happened, and where she's gone, then she pulls on some more clothes, before heading from her bunk to the mess hall and the kitchen next door. She's brought a satchel with her and she fills it with food, putting in four of the round flat loaves that are the staple of the palace bakery, then adding some cured meat, a pot of preserves, and some dried fruit. She also fills two canteens with water, and puts them in the satchel before she borrows the Cook's spark-maker and slips it into one of the pockets on the satchel – being able to make a fire each night while she camps will be essential she knows.

Finally satisfied that she has everything she can think of that she'll need, Daisy makes her way from the barracks, across the palace grounds, and out into the road.

Once there she pauses for a moment, unsure whether to turn left or right. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, then turns to the right. She has no idea why she's chosen this direction over the other, but as she makes her way along the road, fording a path through the deep snow, she just knows it seems like the right choice.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

The days pass and turn into weeks, and Daisy sees no one else who's awake, which makes her even more curious about why _she_ is still awake. There's something eerie about moving through a town or city and seeing everyone lying asleep wherever they fell. She begins to feel lonelier than she ever felt as a homeless orphan – the last half dozen years of comradeship with King Philip's Knights have left her no longer accustomed to solitude. She thinks that the uncanny silence doesn't help – not even the occasional further heavy falls of snow make much noise, and she finds herself whistling or humming sometimes, just to hear something other than the sound of her own snow-muffled footfalls.

She makes steady, but very slow, progress north; Summerland is a large country and well populated, and Daisy checks each town and city thoroughly for any sign that King Philip's been hidden somewhere within its precincts. Instinct tells her that he'll be somewhere isolated, but she can't help checking everywhere anyway – just in case her instincts are wrong.

She'd lost track of the days of the week, then the months, after the first six weeks or so of searching, but she's aware that many months have now passed since she set out on her apparently endless quest, and when she finally meets someone else who's awake she's shocked, but she doesn't forget her training as a Knight – she sets up an ambush for the person she's noticed is following her, on the grounds that he or she might be a minion of the Winter Queen, rather than a potential ally.

She waits on the outskirts of the town she'd been approaching, sheltering among a copse of trees, and when the figure comes within bowshot, she sends an arrow into the snow at his feet.

He immediately raises his hands in the air, palms out to show he's not holding any weapons. "I'm a friend," he calls.

Daisy steps out of the trees, a second arrow already nocked. "Why are you following me?" she calls back.

"You're the only other person I've seen who's awake," he says, then smiles. "Hi, my name's Lincoln Campbell."

She stares at him hard: he's a few years older than her, and she supposes some women might find him appealing, but she thinks he looks a bit bland. She unstrings her bow, putting the arrow back in her quiver, then walks towards him. He picks up the arrow she fired at him, and comes to meet her. When she reaches out to take it from him, she feels a tiny spark of static electricity jump from his hand to hers, and she frowns before replacing the arrow.

"Daisy Johnson," she tells him gruffly. "One of King Philips' Knights." 

He nods and she's surprised that he doesn't appear surprised that she's a Knight. "Where are you heading?" he asks, falling into step beside her.

"North." She slides a glance sideways at him, watching his face when she adds, "I'm on a quest to find King Philip."

He stops dead, his eyes wide. "King Philip's missing?"

"The Winter Queen took him, then plunged Summerland into winter."

"Why?"

She shrugs. "I don't know – because she's a malevolent and powerful woman? Because she can? She didn't exactly hang around to explain."

"Do you know where she took the King?"

Daisy shakes her head. "North, I think. I've heard that's where she lives, but I've been checking every town and city I pass through, just in case she hid him somewhere further south."

"That's going to take ages," Lincoln observes.

She shrugs again. "It is taking ages, but I've nothing else to do with my time since the King I'm meant to be serving is missing, and everyone else is asleep."

"May I keep you company?"

She looks him up and down for a long moment, wondering if any company is better than none, then nods.

They continue north for a handful more days, and if nothing else, Daisy's grateful to have a second person to help her to look for King Philip – it speeds up the search a bit.

They talk as they walk, and Daisy finds him oddly guarded when it comes to talking about himself – he tells her that he's a healer, but he skirts around any discussion of family or friends, which she finds suspicious, but she keeps her own counsel. She's still not 100% certain he's not an agent of the Winter Queen, sent to ensure she doesn't find King Philip.

It's the sixth day after she meets Lincoln when things change again, and in a wholly unexpected manner. They're walking up the north road, heading towards the next city, when Lincoln stops and asks, "What about there?"

She stops too, and looks where he's pointing: there's a building of some sort barely visible through the trees on the east side of the road.

"I don't think it's isolated enough," she says, "but there's no harm in looking."

They cross into the wood, and at least the going is easier under the trees since the snow hasn't been able to penetrate the leaf cover much – one advantage of the snow arriving at the height of summer, when all the trees were in full leaf.

"It looks like – I don't know – some kind of temple," she observes, surprised. She hadn't known there were any temples to the old religion still around.

"Yeah, it does," Lincoln says, and she wonders at the intense note in his voice, but she doesn't ask.

She can't help frowning, though, and she approaches the temple more warily, although she doesn't know exactly what she's wary of – she just has an unsettled feeling in her gut, as if something ominous is just around the next corner.

The feeling of disquiet only intensifies when she gets close enough to see that the temple is in remarkably good repair despite the fact it's clearly very old, and the old religion died out more than a century ago.

She walks on the balls of her feet as she moves into the temple, past a number of empty chambers which are free of dust or any signs of decay. Her nerves are strung as tightly as her bowstring before she goes into battle, a situation that's not improved by the strange gleam she can see in Lincoln's eyes whenever she glances his way. She doesn't challenge him because she doesn't want to waste her energy in fighting with him if there's a stronger enemy within.

At the centre of the temple is a circular chamber, at the heart of which is a pillar or pedestal of some sort, on top of which is resting a rather odd-looking object.

"What's that?" she wonders aloud, noticing that there are strange symbols all over the object; they're not carved into its surface because they actually stand out from the material (and at this distance she can't tell if it's metal, wood, or something else entirely). Daisy has the odd feeling that the thing wants to be picked up, is _waiting_ to be picked up, and that just makes her even more wary. She feels as though it would fit comfortably into her hand, despite it being all sharp angles and an odd shape.

"It's waiting for you," Lincoln says.

"What do you mean?" she asks sharply, turning towards him. Before she is fully facing him though, a force smashes into her chest, knocking her from her feet and sending her sprawling to the ground near the pedestal. She doesn't know what the force is, but the fact that it's emanated from Lincoln is obvious because he's got his right hand lifted and tiny blue sparks are flickering into darkness around his hand. The impact of her fall causes Daisy to lose her grip on both her pack and her quarterstaff, scattering them both across the chamber floor.

She grabs hold of the pedestal and uses it to pull herself to her feet, feeling weak and shaky. Even as she gets up, however, there's a harsh grinding, grating noise, and it takes her a moment to realise that the opening into the chamber is closing – that the grinding is caused by the walls sliding closed.

She hears Lincoln shout a muffled apology just before the walls crash together in a horribly final manner. Furious, she dusts herself down, then notices a strange blue glow by her side; startled she looks down at the pedestal to see that the odd object is peeling open, like a flower unfurling its petals. There are blue crystals inside, and she's still staring down at them in confusion and wonder when they abruptly explode, filling the chamber with smoke. Daisy rushes across the room to where the entrance was, but she's barely reached the spot when she's enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Even as she reaches out for the stone walls, she finds herself becoming immobilised, and she panics, a combination of terror and rage filling her chest as some sort of stone-like substance flows over her body, coating it completely. 

She'd scream at Lincoln if she could, she's so furious at him for entrapping her, and furious, too, that no one will ever find King Philip, or stop the Winter Queen now.

Daisy isn't sure how much time passes while she's immobilised and coated in the stone-like substance, but after a while she's aware that she can wiggle her fingers. Renewed rage surges through her, and as she flexes her body, the stuff coating her explodes outwards in thousands of pieces, that fly off in all directions, and she's left trembling with rage, and feeling weak and dizzy. As the walls slowly grind open again, she takes two shaky steps before collapsing to the floor, her vision growing dark as Lincoln approaches her. She'd yell at him but she's too busy passing out.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

When Daisy next becomes aware of her surroundings she's lying on a comfortable bed, and once again she's completely immobile. Unbidden, she recalls her terror at the way she'd been immobilised in the temple, and the feeling of panic comes rushing back to her, joined again by rage at the way Lincoln had manipulated her into entering the temple. As the feelings in her chest build towards a crescendo everything in the room starts shaking violently, then the door opposite her bed flies open, and Lincoln rushes in, accompanied by an older woman whose skin is a few shades darker than Daisy's own. She has warm brown eyes and dark hair that's braided into a ponytail that flies out behind her as she heads straight for Daisy.

"It's okay, Daisy, it's okay. You're safe here. No one's going to hurt you." She leans down and clasps Daisy's shoulders, continuing to speak calmly and soothingly, and gradually Daisy finds herself becoming calmer and more relaxed.

By the time her rage and panic have subsided completely, Daisy realises that she can move again, and she immediately tries to sit up. The woman helps her, and Daisy's glad of the assistance, but then she notices that she's almost naked, apart from a band of material across her breasts, and a pair of drawers, and the rage comes roaring back, and everything within the room begins to shake violently again.

"It looks like Raina was right – again," Lincoln says, sounding very self-satisfied to Daisy's ears.

"You need to calm down, Daisy," the older woman says, ignoring Lincoln.

"I don't want him in here," she tells the older woman. "I hate being lied to." Her tone is fierce and there's a warning rattle of objects about the room.

"But – " Lincoln begins, looking first startled, then annoyed.

"Please," Daisy says to the other woman, She doesn't know if this person has the authority to send Lincoln away, but given the way he'd spoken to her concerning 'Raina', it seems possible that she's a leader here.

"Leave us for now, Lincoln," she says, and he immediately scowls.

"Daisy hasn't finished transitioning yet," he objects. "And I – "

"I've transitioned more people than you've had hot meals, Lincoln," the woman says. "Daisy will be quite safe with me."

"Fine," he says in a surly tone, and slams out, banging the door in a childish display of temper.

"Thank you," Daisy says gratefully. "Who are you? And what did he mean about 'transitioning'?"

"My name's Jiaying," the woman tells her. "I'm the leader of this group of Inhumans."

"Inhumans?" Daisy asks, confused by the name.

Jiaying nods. "It's the name for people like us, people who've undergone Terrigenesis, and become something more than merely human." At the look of mingled apprehension and anger that Daisy gives her, she elaborates further.

"What you experienced in the temple is called Terrigenesis. It allows people like us to gain what you'd call supernatural powers. In your case you've gained the ability to create and manipulate vibrations – everything in this world, whether living or inanimate, vibrates on a unique frequency. At the moment it seems that your powers are very much tied to your emotions – so that when you're angry or scared you cause an earthquake. However that won't always be the case – I aim to teach you to better manage both your emotions and your powers, and I hope that you'll quickly gain full mastery of your new powers."

"Lincoln knew this would happen to me when he pointed out the temple, didn't he?" 

"Yes he did."

Daisy scowls at Jiaying. "How could he know, though? And why did he go out of his way to get me to enter the temple in the first place? Because it was entirely down to him – I hadn't even _noticed_ the temple was there before he pointed it out."

Jiaying sits down on the side of Daisy's bed. "He did it on my instructions," she says. "One of our number, Raina, is a powerful seer, and she's been having visions about you. They started even before the Winter Queen arrived and took King Philip away."

"Visions of me?" Daisy can't keep the scepticism out of her voice.

Jiaying nods. "You're destined to become a powerful warrior, and First Knight to the Summer King."

"Someone's been drinking too much wine," Daisy says flatly, because there's no way she'd ever replace Melinda May as First Knight – even if she was killed in battle, there's still Bobbi, and so many others who are more skilled than Daisy.

Jiaying shakes her head. "Raina's never been wrong yet."

"Yet," Daisy repeats pointedly. "First time for everything."

Jiaying just smiles, then asks, "Are you hungry?"

Daisy nods, surprised to realise that she is, and Jiaying tells her, "Using your powers a lot will always leave you hungry."

Daisy looks up at the older woman. "How soon can I leave here?"

"I don't know," she admits. "It depends on how long it takes you to learn to master your powers. Everyone learns at a different pace."

"Your seer doesn't know?" Daisy asks a little flippantly.

"Her visions centre more on things like saving the Summer King," Jiaying says, getting to her feet. "You should get some more rest, and I'll send someone to you with a meal."

"When will we begin the training?"

"Give it another day or two, until your body's more settled," Jiaying says. "And in the meantime, try to keep your emotions in check – not everyone can stay calm in the face of random earthquakes, even little ones."

"I'll try," Daisy says gruffly. "But if you want me to keep control, you'd better keep Lincoln out of my way or there's no telling what might happen."

"Duly noted," Jiaying says. She goes out and Daisy exhales loudly. She doesn't want to believe in visions or seers, or Destiny, because the idea seems nonsensical. But she can't deny that something had happened in that temple, and if she has gained supernatural powers, it makes sense to learn how to use them. But that doesn't mean that she's not angry at the way she's been manipulated into this situation.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

After two days, which Daisy mostly spends either sleeping in her room, eating hot meals, or resting, Jiaying begins training her. When she first leaves her room, Daisy's surprised to find that their location is not only nowhere near the temple, but that they're not even in Summerland any more, and she feels a combination of horror and anger at the discovery until Jiaying introduces her to Gordon. He's an older Inhuman with no eyes, just a blank expanse of skin across the top of his face, which Daisy finds it very hard not to stare at. He has the ability to teleport, meaning he can move himself from one location to another instantly – and he can take anyone he chooses with him.

"He'll take you back to Summerland once your training's finished," Jiaying explains, and Daisy, calmer now, nods.

They train out on a mountainside initially since, as Jiaying observes, you can't hurt a mountain, so if Daisy can't maintain control of her powers, she's in no danger of hurting anyone.

However, it doesn’t take her long to learn that control – she's reminded of when she learned to fight using a sword, and of learning to use a bow and arrow – both things had come far more quickly and easily to her than her then instructors had anticipated. She can tell Jiaying's also pleased and impressed by the speed at which her control improves, and she soon moves from the mountainside down into a big training room where Jiaying introduces Daisy to another Inhuman named Alisha, who can create duplicate copies of herself. The two of them fight, sometimes just one-on-one, but more often Alisha multiplies herself two or three times, and Daisy learns how to fight three or four Alishas all at once. Afterwards she usually eats twice as much as she'd consider normal, then falls into bed for 8 hours solid sleep before beginning all over again the next day.

She's not sure how much time she spends with Jiaying in Lái Shì – it's weeks rather than days, but eventually Jiaying declares that Daisy's as ready as she'll ever be for what lies ahead. Daisy doesn't know exactly what lies ahead – she's consistently refused to let Jiaying tell her about Raina's visions. She met the seer once, and took an instant dislike to her, probably unfairly, she'll admit – but she can't help blaming Raina as much as Lincoln for the changes she's been through. And she knows that she ought to place even more blame on Jiaying, since she's the one who ordered Lincoln to lead Daisy to the temple, but somehow she finds she can't.

Gordon takes her back to Summerland – to a point considerably further north of the temple – and leaves her near the northern border. He tells her that if she ever needs him again, she only has to ask, saying something like "Help me, Gordon", and he'll immediately hear her and come.

Daisy thanks him, watches as he disappears again in a swirl of blue light, then turns her face to the horizon, and the distant tower which she instinctively knows, without knowing how, is her destination.

Over the course of the next few days, as she makes her way to the tower, the landscape around her changes: the trees become more scattered, then disappear all together; the ground grows ever rockier until, finally, there's no grass underfoot; and the few bushes become gradually scrawnier until they also disappear. By the time Daisy reaches the tower's precincts there's literally nothing green in sight – the land has become completely barren, and the weather is chillingly cold, although there's no snow here.

Daisy approaches the tower cautiously, expecting an ambush at any moment, but it's not until she's reached the foot of a flight of stone stairs, which lead up to a heavily barred door, that the Winter Queen appears. She seems to materialise out of thin air, like Gordon does, but without the swirl of blue light.

The Winter Queen stands at the top of the stairs and sneers down at Daisy, who says loudly, "I told you I'd find him."

"Who says you've found him now?"

Daisy snorts rudely. "If he wasn't here, you wouldn't be either." She glares up at the Winter Queen and clenches her fists, willing herself not to act too soon. "Are you going to get out of my way?"

"And if I don't?" the Winter Queen asks disdainfully. "You can't do anything to hurt me, child."

"Are you sure of that?" Daisy asks. "After all, you told me I wouldn't find King Philip, and called me a weak child, yet here I am. It's nothing to me whether you live or die, but I'm telling you right now that I will be going through that door, and I'll be escorting King Philip home."

The Winter Queen shakes her head, then raises her right hand, but Daisy's faster, thrusting air at the woman above her so that she slams into the door behind her. As she crumples to the ground, Daisy strides up the stairs, which shake at every step, despite being made of solid stone.

"I could kill you, you know," she says casually. "I could vibrate your heart to a standstill, or shake your very bones to pieces. I could even vibrate your brain until it ceases to function. But I don't like killing people unnecessarily. So you have a choice – leave now, or die painfully." Daisy stops on the top step, looking down at the Winter Queen. "Your choice."

"I choose neither," she snarls, and a sudden hail storm lashes down: the balls of ice are three inches round, and hurt painfully when they strike Daisy, but she just bites her bottom lip in concentration, then sweeps her right hand out, and the hail flies sideways, battering the rocky ground alongside the tower instead.

"How?" asks the Winter Queen disbelievingly.

"I'm not the woman I was when we last met," Daisy tells her. "Now, last chance. Will you leave? If you don't, I _will_ kill you."

"Nonsense," answers the Winter Queen immediately, forcing herself up to her feet. "I'm an elemental being. The likes of you cannot kill one such as me."

"Bet you," Daisy says, and thrusts out her hand.

She's done this with mechanical objects that Jiaying brought her – vibrating them carefully until every moving part has fallen away from every other part. This isn't quite the same thing, but it's not entirely different either – and in only a matter of moments the Winter Queen begins to scream as Daisy vibrates her very bones to pieces, then switches her focus onto the other woman's heart.

It's all over in a matter of minutes, and Daisy feels no great satisfaction at what she's done, only a certain sorrow that it was necessary.

She vibrates the air under the corpse and it levitates off the top of the staircase, then Daisy lets it drop to the ground.

She can feel exhaustion creeping up on her, but she cannot wait to rest before she continues – she has to get inside and rescue the King.

She swallows hard, licks her lips, then raises both hands and vibrates the iron bands on the door until they crash to the ground, then she causes the planks of the door to quake until they fall away from each other, smashing into the ground with a loud noise. 

Daisy scrambles through the doorway, almost falling flat on her face in her haste, then she moves into the nearest room working her way through the tower until she finally finds the King in the topmost room, and she has to fight back tears of relief as she spots him lying on a huge four-poster bed.

She hurries across the room, stumbling over her own feet, and is relieved when she realises that King Philip is not dead, just deeply asleep like everyone else in Summerland. She's shocked to see he's almost naked – wearing only a pair of drawers – and she notices, when she touches his shoulder, that his body is ice cold. She turns around, looking for a fireplace, which she spots, and she's thankful to note that there's wood and kindling already laid. She digs her borrowed spark-maker from her satchel, then lights the fire, before turning her attention back to the King.

She grabs his shoulder and shakes it carefully, desperate to wake him, but he doesn't even stir. She then calls his name loudly while shaking him, demanding that he wake up, but it's to no avail.

She's hungry and exhausted from using her powers, and angry at the Winter Queen for what she's done, and she begins to cry, sobbing desperately as she clutches the King's left shoulder in one hand, and holds his left hand in her other hand, and begs him to wake up. Her tears are soon falling thick and fast as all her pent up anxiety of the past months burst out of her, and she's crying so hard that she doesn't notice that she's sobbing all over the King's arm until she feels his muscles twitch beneath her fingers.

"King Philip?" she gasps, and releases his shoulder to angrily scrub her tears from her eyes.

"Daisy?" His voice is rusty from months of disuse, but the fact that he recognises her sends a surge of relief through her.

"You're awake! Oh, thank goodness you're awake." She sinks to the floor beside the bed, still holding onto his wrist. She senses him moving on the bed and when she looks up it's to see him leaning over to look down at her. 

"Are you all right?" he asks, and she chokes out a disbelieving laugh.

"Am I alright?" she repeats. "I'm not the one who's just spent months unconscious in a tower belonging to the Winter Queen."

"No, but I'm not the one with dark circles under their eyes, who looks close to passing out," he says.

"Oh. Yeah. I – uh – I should probably eat and, well, so should you." She pushes herself back up to her feet, then regards him critically. He does look very thin, which unnerves her because he's always looked so fit and well-muscled until now. He's about her height and compactly built, and she's always thought of him as solid, but he doesn't look solid at this moment.

"I think you should lie down before you do anything else," he tells her. And she realises two things – he sounds quite worried about her, and she feels pretty light-headed.

"Yeah." She crosses the room to the chair beside the fire and grabs some of the blankets piled up there, then carries them over to the bed. The King immediately sits up and they unfold the blankets together, then spread them out across the bed.

"Come on, Daisy," he says, gesturing. "Lie down beside me before you fall down."

She wants to argue, but she's too exhausted, so she moves around to the other side of the bed, pulls off her boots and a couple of layers of clothing, then she crawls under the blankets when he lifts them up invitingly. She settles in beside him gratefully, tugging the blankets over herself.

"Sleep," he says, and astonishes her by sliding his arm under her body, pulling her body against his. It feels impossibly good, and she allows her eyes to close, glad to have found him, and grateful for the chance to rest.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

When Daisy wakes the room is dark and she's momentarily disoriented by the fact that there's someone sharing her bed. Then her memory of recent events comes rushing back and she realises she's in bed with King Philip. Then she notices that their legs are tangled together, and that he's very obviously aroused. (And that he's very well endowed, to judge by the length of hard flesh that's pressing into her thigh.)

She bites back a moan as desire surges through her, and he stirs, waking up slowly.

"Daisy," he says, a certain raspiness still audible in his voice. It's impossibly sexy, she thinks, and wishes she could roll him onto his back and press her body and hot mouth to his. The strength of her desire for him floors her – she's always tended to think of sex as something to be bartered with for the sake of a few extra coins, or a roof over her head and food in her belly. 

She's become aware, through conversations with Bobbi and Trip, that her views about sex are not very normal, but she's never known how to change them, and she's never really associated sexual desire with her love for King Philip – and she feels a bit confused as a result. Her weird (according to Bobbi) ideas about sex stem from the fact that when she was 13 she was raped by the son of the man she was apprenticed to, together with his father, while the man's wife and daughter were away from home for a few days. That weekend she'd lost her ability to see sex as anything other than a tool to get whatever she needed from others.

She's loved King Philip from the day she first met him – when he and his Knights came across her defending two girls younger than herself from the unwanted attentions of four young men – but it's been love in an abstract sense. The idea that he might be attracted to her has never occurred to her, and even now, she's not entirely sure that he is, despite the evidence of his hard cock pressing against her thigh. She's slept with enough men to know about morning erections, and the fact that it's now evening doesn't really change things, she thinks. 

She's still pondering this and telling herself she should get out of bed and prepare them a meal when he leans in and presses his lips to hers.

"Oh!" She's so startled that she doesn't immediately kiss him back, and he quickly pulls away.

"Sorry, sorry. That was very presumptuous of me," he says.

"No, it wasn't," she says instantly. "You surprised me, that's all."

"Are you sure? You're not just saying that because I'm the King and you think you should?"

"Hell no," Daisy says vehemently. She leans in towards him, and he meets her half way, and she quickly finds herself awash with desire – his mouth is hot and hungry, and absolutely perfect.

They kiss for some time until the need to breathe becomes overwhelming, and then Daisy hears his stomach growling, and as they're laughing about that, their arms wrapped around each other, her stomach joins in.

They disentangle themselves from each other and the blankets, then Daisy climbs from the bed to find him some clothes. Fortunately the Winter Queen didn't dispose of them, and she finds them in a closet.

Once he's dressed they make their way downstairs to the ground floor, and the kitchen. They're both pretty shaky – Daisy from using her powers so much, and the King from his long sleep. Luckily the kitchen is well-stocked and between them they manage to assemble a filling meal, which they eat ravenously and without conversation.

After they've eaten they gather various supplies, together with a bottle of wine and a pitcher of water, and take the lot back upstairs to the attic room. Daisy sets it on a side table while King Philip goes to bathe, then she takes a turn in the bath, before climbing back into bed with the King.

"I want to hear your story," he tells her. "But first what of the Winter Queen – does she still live?"

"No," Daisy tells him. "I – " She swallows, and finds she cannot meet his eyes. "I killed her, but to explain how I did, I have to tell you everything else that's happened."

He nods. "Let's make ourselves comfortable, then, and you can tell me your tale." He settles back against the head of the bed, and gestures for her to join him. When she moves closer, he wraps his arms around her, positioning her so that her back is half against his chest as she sits alongside him.

She begins her tale, describing how she defied the Winter Queen, then telling of her long search for him. The King listens attentively and she can feel, from the way his vibrations change, when he's surprised or excited by different parts of her story. Jiaying had told her she'd be able to feel and even learn to read, and perhaps eventually learn to affect, other people's vibrations, but the King is the first person she's really had a chance to explore this with, and she realises that it's something she wants to investigate further.

They pause for further food about half way through her narrative, and it occurs to her suddenly that they're going to be staying here for a while, certainly until King Philip's recovered from his ordeal. She thinks that she could call for Gordon's help, and ask him to teleport them, but she dismisses the idea, firstly because she's not sure how Jiaying would feel about having the Summer King as a guest, but also (more selfishly) because she wants to have the King to herself for a little while.

When she gets to the part where Lincoln lead her into the temple the King's angry enough to squeeze her painfully in his arms until she can persuade him to calm down.

Then she tells him all about her training with Jiaying before recounting her second encounter with the Winter Queen on the very steps of this tower.

"So you killed her?" he says, and she can hear how much in awe he is, and that warms her, knowing that she's impressed him.

"I killed her, dumped her body, then came into the tower and searched it until I found you up here."

"For which I thank you," he says. He nuzzles the side of her neck, and she can't fight a shudder of pleasure that goes through her. He immediately tugs on her arms, and gets her to turn around, guiding her to sit astride his lap. She can easily feel how hard he is, and that sends a surge of desire through her again.

"Philip," she mutters, and he leans in, bites gently on her earlobe, then says, "Phil. You can call me Phil while we're here."

"Phil," she repeats, then groans when he slips his hand between their bodies and begins to stroke her intimately between the legs. She's already wet, and only grows wetter as he touches her, slipping first one finger, then a second, into her slick heat.

She's surprised into crying out loudly when he drives her to a climax, and she moans when he eases his fingers free of her body again afterwards. But he quickly lifts her up and guides her still throbbing sex down onto his rock hard cock. And since he's big he fills her like no one else ever has, and she finds herself coming a second time, even before he starts thrusting into her.

"I'm not going to last very long," he says in a warning tone. "Not until I've recovered from spending so many months asleep."

She leans in and kisses him hungrily, then nips at his bottom lip, before dragging her tongue over the spot she's just bitten. "That's okay, Phil. You've already given me two orgasms. I'm not greedy."

"Well you should be," he says immediately. "It's perfectly acceptable in this situation."

When he climaxes inside her she cries out as she comes for a third time, then she allows herself to collapse against his naked, hairy chest.

"So good," she murmurs, and he mumbles an agreement.

They clean themselves up, then settle back down again, both of them feeling very sleepy after their intercourse. Daisy curls into Phil's side, marvelling at how good she feels right now.

It's morning when they next wake, and this time they bathe together, sharing the tub and enjoying touching and stroking each other until they're both ready to fuck.

Afterwards they have breakfast together in the kitchen, and Daisy suddenly realises that the sun's come out. They go outside to explore once they've finished eating, and she's pleased to discover it's a warmer day, and that the snow on the distant hills is beginning to melt.

"You broke the Winter Queen's power when you killed her," Phil tells her. "The land will begin to restore itself now." He wraps his arms around her from behind, nuzzling the side of her neck, and she feels herself growing aroused yet again. He makes a pleased sounding noise behind her, then drops his right hand so he can touch her through her clothes.

"How do you feel about outdoor sex?" he asks, stroking her more vigorously. 

"I've had – " She stops, then pulls away from him, deciding she can't be in his arms while she tells him this. 

"Daisy?" He's surprised and confused, she can tell, without even needing to see his face.

"There's something I have to tell you, sire," she says in a far more formal tone. She darts a glance at him, and sees he looks puzzled by the change of tone, then he nods. He leans back against the tower wall, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Tell me."

"I was raped when I was 13." She doesn't look at him, but she senses the spike of disgust in his vibrations, and she keeps her back turned throughout her recital of that long, horrible weekend when the 15 year old son of the tailor she was apprenticed to, and later his father, used her exactly as they wanted while the tailor's wife and daughter were away. It's not easy, and the fact she can sense Phil's seething anger, and his concern for her, don't make it easier to tell the tale.

"Two weeks after that I ran away. I told myself I'd learn how to fight, how to protect myself from men, and not just me, but to protect other girls too."

She glances sideways at him and she can see that he's now torn between admiration for what she did – he'd first met her fighting to protect two younger girls than herself in just such a situation, after all – and anger at the men who'd attacked her.

"After that, I regularly used sex as a way to get food or shelter, or money for those things. I've been fucked up against any number of walls, or bent over street furniture in dark alleys, so you see, outdoor sex is nothing. Sex in a bed – that's the novelty."

She turns to face him properly, the tears that have been flowing throughout her recital still on her cheeks. "I'm sorry, sire, I should have said something before, but you should know that you've been sleeping with a woman who's little better than a whore."

He comes closer, and asks gently, "May I hold you?" and when she nods, he wraps his arms around her, then slides his hand up into her hair to hold the back of her head as she presses her face into his neck.

"You're wrong, Daisy. You're not a whore. You're a survivor, and a fighter, and a defender of others – how else could you have beaten the Winter Queen and saved me if you were not? I haven't forgotten how we first met, you know. In my eyes, you're a hero, Daisy, not a whore or a slut or any of those other names we men hurl unfairly at you women after mistreating you."

He leans back and lifts her chin so he can look her in the eyes, and she can see the absolute sincerity there. Then he kisses her, gently at first, then, when she responds eagerly as relief flows through her, he deepens the kiss and she feels desire following hot on the heels of her relief as she realises that he doesn't despise her.

When he pulls back so that they can catch their breath, he entwines the fingers of his right hand with hers, then asks, breathless and aroused, "Daisy, would you do me the honour of becoming my Queen and Consort?"

"I – You – What?" she stutters, completely taken aback. "You want to marry me? The Summer King and a nameless orphan who's no longer even human?"

He chuckles, and the sound fills her with liquid warmth. "I'm not human either."

"What?" She stares at him, and he smirks, and she thinks that she might melt if he's going to smirk at her like that. "I don't understand."

"I'm like the Winter Queen," he tells her. "An elemental being, with an exceptionally long lifespan. The fact that you're now an Inhuman is actually a point in your favour, not a disadvantage."

"Oh," she says, suddenly breathless. "Yes! Yes Phil, I want to marry you."

"Good." He kisses her again, and she moans when he presses her body against his, his hands firm at her lower back, and she can feel his arousal pressing against her thigh.

"You do know," he says in a low voice in her ear, "That I'm actually a kind of fertility god? Which means that if we fuck out here, we can probably turn this barren wilderness fertile again."

She laughs. "It's okay, Phil, I get it. You want to indulge in outdoor sex. You don't have to feed me a line."

"I'm not," he says earnestly. "It's the absolute truth. Why do you think Summerland never suffers from failed harvests or blight from insects, or anything else of that kind?"

She pulls back to look at him, and realises that she's misunderstood who or what he is the whole time she's known him, and she feels a bit foolish. "I had no idea," she tells him. "If you put it like that, though, it's practically your duty to fuck me out here, isn't it?"

He laughs. "I rather believe you're right." He swiftly undresses her, then strips off his own clothes, before spreading out his cloak on the least rocky bit of ground. He guides her down to lie there, and she spreads her legs for him, groaning in pleasure when he enters her, his cock filling her easily.

She's expecting a hard, urgent fuck, but he takes her by surprise by not even beginning to move once he's buried inside her. Instead he kisses her: on the mouth, on her cheeks, on the side of her neck, along her collarbones, then down to her breasts, where he uses his teeth as well as his tongue on her nipples, biting softly, then sucking firmly, until she comes hard with a harsh cry of his name. She's taken by surprise by her climax because no one has ever made her come like that before.

It's only after she climaxes that he begins to move, and he starts out a slow, steady pace, then gradually builds up speed until he's thrusting deep and hard into her. He brings her to a second orgasm, then a third after he drops his hand between their bodies to stroke her clit, and it's as she's coming the third time that he climaxes too.

Afterwards he lies on top of her, his weight comforting rather than uncomfortable, and she says softly, "I don't know if I can have children. After what happened. I spoke to a healer once, and she told me that women like me often can't."

"Oh you'll be fine," he tells her, his tone of confidence startling her.

"What?" 

"I mentioned I'm a sort of fertility god, right?" She nods, and he gives a shrug. "That's the sort of thing I can tell as a consequence of who and what I am. Whether anyone, or indeed any creature, can bear children."

"Oh." She ponders this as he gets up, then helps her up from the ground, and as they get dressed and go inside to bathe and eat.

They're in the kitchen, finishing making their meal when Phil comes up behind her, slides his arms around her torso, then nuzzles her neck in what she's coming to suspect is his favourite spot.

"We don't have to have children, if you'd rather not," he says softly, as if he knows that's what she's been thinking about. "But I would love to share parenthood with you."

"I think I'd better talk to Jiaying first," Daisy says. "After all, I've no idea if even a human and an Inhuman can have a child together, never mind an Inhuman and an elemental being who's a kind of fertility god."

He squeezes her gently. "That sounds wise. In the meantime, however, let's eat."

AC-S-AC-S-AC

They spend a week in eating, sleeping, and having lots of sex in various spots in and around the tower, and as Phil predicted, they begin to see signs of the wilderness becoming less barren. Grass, bushes, and even trees gradually begin to start growing, doing so at an astonishing rate, and by the end of the ninth day since Daisy slew the Winter Queen, and woke the Summer King, the wilderness has gone.

They wake late on the morning of the tenth day to blazing sunshine, and the sound of someone knocking vigorously on the repaired tower door. Daisy pulls on some clothes (since she and Phil prefer to sleep naked), then crosses to the window, looks out, and then gasps in shock when she sees the entire company of Knights are outside.

"What is it?" Phil asks immediately.

"Apparently the Knights have found you, sire," Daisy tells him, and is annoyed with herself for how bitterly disappointed she feels that their little idyll is over, especially since she'd always known it wasn't going to last.

She turns from the window and watches as he finishes dressing. Then he moves to her side and takes her right hand in his. "We'll come back," he promises in a low voice. "For our honeymoon, if nothing else." He lifts her hand and presses a kiss to her knuckles, turns her hand over and presses a second kiss to her palm, then a third on the inside of her wrist.

"Phil," she hisses, because if he's going to continue kissing her like that, she'll have to push him against the wall, sink to her knees, and take his cock in her mouth, and – "The Knights are outside," she reminds him, desperately trying to distract herself, if not him too.

He groans, looking extremely disappointed, just as the thunderous knocking resumes downstairs.

"Come on then," he says, and leads her out of the room, and downstairs. 

He opens the tower door, and there's Melinda May on the top step, her whole face lighting up with obvious relief at the sight of her King, safe and well.

She steps back and King Philip moves out onto the step, and the Knights immediately raise a loud cheer at the sight of him.

"Sire, it's good to see you. You look well – " Melinda begins, then stops when she sees Daisy step out from behind the King, her hand still firmly clasped in his since he has yet to let go.

"It's true, then," Melinda says, then confuses Daisy by bowing low to her, not to King Philip. "My lady."

Daisy looks from Melinda to the other Knights gathered on the grass below the steps, and they all bow to her, then to King Philip.

"What is true, Melinda?" asks the King, his tone mild considering _his_ Knights are bowing to someone other than him.

"My liege, when we all awoke to find ourselves lying scattered across the Palace grounds in melting snow, we received a message from a woman naming herself Jiaying, who said that you were to be found in the tower of the Winter Queen, and that you were safe in the company of the Winter Queen's slayer, also the person who had won your heart."

"It's true," the King says, raising his voice so everyone can hear him. "Daisy fought the Winter Queen, and slew her, then she woke me from the enchanted sleep that had been laid upon us. I have asked her to be my Queen and Consort, and she has graciously agreed to marry me."

The Knights cheer even more loudly at this announcement than they did at his appearance in the doorway, and Daisy feels a blush heating her face.

King Philip leads her down the steps, still holding her hand, and everyone takes it in turn to come up and congratulate them both, and Daisy finds herself being hugged by the other Knights, all of them clearly delighted for her.

"I am glad that I've someone worthy to hand the title of First Knight to," Melinda says, then laughs when Daisy begins to splutter and tries to tell the older woman that she's not qualified.

"Oh yes you are," Melinda says emphatically. "You're going to be the Queen for one, and you slew the Winter Queen for another."

"But I'm not as experienced as you or Bobbi, or Peggy, or most of the other Knights," protests Daisy.

"In terms of years served, no, you're not. But that doesn't matter. You slew the Winter Queen, and she's been a thorn in Summerland's side for many years. You've earned this, Daisy, and it will do the Knights good to have someone younger in charge."

Daisy hardly knows what to say to this – Melinda's not exactly stingy with her praise, but she never gushes either, and Daisy realises this, more than anything else, should convinced her how sincere Melinda is about her taking over the role of First Knight.

"Thank you," she says quietly. "I promise I won't let you down."

Melinda nods, then moves away, and the King smiles down at Daisy.

"I'm going to name you the Spring Knight," he tells her. "It seems apt for the Knight who brought hope back to Summerland by slaying the Winter Queen. Others may, eventually, take on the title of First Knight after you retire, but the title of Spring Knight will be uniquely yours."

"Sure you don't just want to call me that so you can come up with all sorts of seasonal puns?" she teases.

He chuckles and pulls her into his arms, then kisses her very thoroughly, apparently heedless of their audience, which leads to a good deal of cheering and applause from the Knights.

"I think we should go home before you make an even bigger spectacle of us," Daisy tells him.

He laughs, then offers her his hand, leading the way to the carriage that's waiting for him, and they climb in while the Knights mount their horses.

"It's a good job this thing's got curtains at the windows, isn't it?" Phil asks in a teasing voice, and Daisy finds herself blushing all over again.


End file.
